Strategy

Strategy

Structured thinking for brainstorming, prompt engineering, and decision making.

Workflow

Step 1: Intake & Framing

Extract the user's core need and classify it into one of three tracks:

If the user's need spans multiple tracks, run them sequentially: Clarity → Ideation → Decision.

Step 2: Select Framework

For Decision track: Choose ICE if speed matters, Impact/Effort matrix if resources are constrained, First Principles if the problem feels stuck or assumed, Pre-Mortem if the decision is high-stakes and irreversible.

For Ideation track: Start with brainwriting (quantity). If ideas stall, inject SCAMPER or reverse brainstorming. Never open with free association for groups of 3+ — dominant voices take over.

For Clarity track: Run the 7-dimension prompt diagnosis. Identify which dimensions are weak (0-3 on a 1-10 scale). Rewrite the prompt addressing the weakest dimensions first.

Step 3: Execute Framework

Follow the framework protocol from its dedicated section below. Timebox strictly:

• Decision: 20 min (5 min framing, 10 min scoring, 5 min decision)
• Ideation: 60 min (divergent 30 min, cluster 10 min, convergent 20 min)
• Clarity: 10 min (diagnose 3 min, rewrite 5 min, changelog 2 min)

Step 4: Document & Deliver

Every strategy output must include:

• The chosen framework and why it was selected
• The raw output (scores, ideas, rewritten prompt)
• One recommended action with owner + next step + deadline
• One explicitly rejected alternative and the reason

Step 5: Verify Against Production Checklist

Run the Production Checklist before delivering. If any item is unchecked, return to the relevant step. Never deliver a strategy artifact that skips convergent selection or lacks a specified output format.

Brainstorming

1. Process

1. Divergent (generate, no judgment) — 15-30 min
2. Clustering (organize, group, eliminate) — 10-15 min
3. Convergent (select, vote, prioritize) — 15-20 min

Never mix divergent and convergent — judgment kills ideas before they form.

2. Divergent Techniques

3. Convergent Techniques

4. Session Template

5. Session Ground Rules

• Defer judgment. Go for quantity (set targets: "50 ideas in 20 min")
• One conversation at a time. Build on "Yes, and..."
• Encourage wild ideas. Round-robin or brainwriting.
• Hard stop at 90 min.

Decision Frameworks

ICE Scoring

Score = Impact (1-10) × Confidence (1-10) × Ease (1-10)
Higher = prioritize first

Impact/Effort Matrix

           High Impact          Low Impact
Low Effort  → Do First         → Quick Wins
High Effort → Strategic        → Don't Do

First Principles Thinking

1. Identify the current belief/assumption
2. Break it down into fundamental truths
3. Rebuild from those truths

Current: "Our testing takes too long to run"
Deconstruction: What IS testing? Verifying code behavior.
Fundamental: We need confidence code works. Speed matters but accuracy matters more.
Rebuild: What's the fastest way to get accuracy confidence? Change test scope to integration-focused.

Pre-Mortem Analysis

Before starting a project, imagine it failed 6 months from now:

1. What went wrong? (list 5-10 failure modes)
2. For each, what's the probability? (low/medium/high)
3. For each, what's the impact? (minor/major/critical)
4. Mitigation: What can we do NOW to prevent it?

Opportunity Cost

Choosing Option A means NOT choosing Options B-Z.
Before committing, list: What else could these resources do?

Prompt Engineering

The 7 Dimensions

1. Clarity — Remove ambiguity. Every noun and verb should have one interpretation.
2. Specificity — Replace vague language with concrete details. Use names, paths, numbers.
3. Constraints — Technology, resource, time, compliance hard boundaries.
4. Format — Bullet list, table, code block, JSON, Mermaid. Tell the model how to answer.
5. Examples — One example is worth 100 words of description.
6. Tone — Internal message (direct), client email (professional-cordial), docs (neutral-precise), bug report (factual-minimal).
7. Iteration Signal — "Start here, refine later" vs "Production-ready" vs "Give me options" vs "Just the code"

Enhancement Workflow

1. Diagnose: Run through 7 dimensions — identify which are weak or missing
2. Rewrite: Complete rewrite, don't annotate original
3. Changelog: 1-2 bullet points per dimension improved

Specificity Table